Internet sites to blame for Randy’s departure?

White blamed what’s becoming his personal whipping boy – MMA web sites and forums – for spreading phony rumors about fighter pay. Couture, who is in South Africa filming a movie and couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday, released a statement in which he said he was retiring because the UFC didn’t sign Fedor Emelianenko and no other fight mattered to him.

White then launched into a tirade against what he called “the rumor mongerers on the Internet,” whom he said are, “the lowest of the low.”

He said fighters read those sites and believe them to be true, causing friction at the negotiating table.

“This business is like a beauty salon,” he said. “These guys are all the toughest guys in the world, but they’re like (expletives) in a beauty salon. They pass along rumors and gossip, which has no basis in reality and they believe all the (rumors) they hear. The Internet is very powerful and one of the best promotional tools we have, but it’s a crazy place.

“They hear these rumors and they believe them and then they get insulted like (expletives) after we try to talk reality with them. They’ll say, ‘Well, this guy is getting this much,’ but when I ask where they heard it, it’s never a contract, it’s always, ‘I read it on the Internet.’ It’s crazy.”

Whenever I see something reported in terms of fighter salary, it’s always official numbers that the athletic commissions release. Nowhere on the internet sites that I visit do I see people talking about these inflated numbers that Dana’s talking about.

Is it so hard to come to grips with the fact that you screwed up? You can’t use internet sites as a scapegoat for all of the UFC’s problems. Sometimes you gotta look inward.

I know that Dave Meltzer in the print edition of the Wrestling Observer has the UFCs offer to Fedor at around $1.5 million per fight. In terms of a real journalist and someone with credibility, Meltzer is as solid as they come. So I’m not sure what Dana is pissing about. Meltzer understands the industry better than he does, heh.

its funny cause in that interview dana says to the effect that randy retired before and the ufc survived and prospered so him retiring again is no big deal.

yeah right but this time randy is taking shots at your company. Not like last time where he stayed either in some form of commentating or promotional aspect.

Nice to see dana concede that these websites have so much power… mabye if youd pay your fighters a little bit more thats on par with the successes your having as a company, fighters wouldnt have to search through the internet and “read those sites and believe them to be true”

ok, if the websites have so much freaking power, how come couture-emelianenko never happened? and liddell-silva is only (possibly) happening after both guys lose twice, instead of at the top of their powers?
that’s the power of rich guys to fuck up a sport.

Yeesh, Vince McMahon would be very proud of Dana White’s ability to blame anything and everything on that gosh-darned media.

Very conveniently, it’s ignored that Couture never said he found out about other fighters’ pay through the evil media. Couture said that he found out about other fighters’ pay by talking to those fighters.

Also, I’m sure Couture and the fighters that he spoke to will appreciate the quote, “These guys are all the toughest guys in the world, but they’re like (expletives) in a beauty salon… They hear these rumors and they believe them and then they get insulted like (expletives) after we try to talk reality with them.”

Equally endearing is the following quote about Fedor: “The negotiations with those guys were so nutty, that at this point, I don’t give (an expletive) if he ever comes with us. If there were real rankings out there, he wouldn’t be the No. 1 fighter in the world, believe me.”

#1, you make a good point. Where does Meltzer get that info? Gee, could it be from the UFC?

And regard to Randy getting ahead of Fedor’s salary info… those references he made to what Fedor was offered, he had to have been talking about the Internet. I mean, there’s no way Randy didn’t get information about what Fedor was offered from Fedor’s management because they’d have no motive for passing on such info considering that Dana was so complimentary to them via the media.

But it is the Internet’s fault and I blame Adam Morgan. Adam, you’re the reason why Randy Couture is not in the UFC.

Dana needs to take a long hard look at himself and get over himself and his company if he wants to ultimately be the NFL or NBA of MMA in the long term. I don’t know how any major players on the business world can respect him enough to deal with him to help him grow his company to that next level with the way he acts and talks like a teenage tough guy.

Maybe its more because I want it to happen, but I think unless the UFC changes their ways (ie their management), someone else (maybe Cuban and/or M-1 depending on who the mystery backer is) is going to come in and steal their fighters and business right out from underneath them, and I for one will be laughing it up. I truly believe whomever treats their fighters fairly, like pro athletes will ultimately win the org war. The fighters like every other human being on the planet is going to work for whomever treats them the best.

BTW Dana, not a chance in hell Couture destroys Fedor. In a cage, Couture is underdog with a decent chance. In a ring, Fedor destroys Couture. I can’t wait to watch it OUTSIDE of the UFC Octagon.

Great news! Randy Couture’s departure will not “affect the [UFC heavyweight] division at all.” So sayeth Dana White in an interview on his company’s web site.

In the same interview, Couture’s actions are blamed in part on the fact that “he hooked up with some Hollywood agent that I bitch slapped about a month ago, and these Hollywood agents are parasites.” Apparently it was the Hollywood agent who gave the interview saying that he felt personally and professionally disrespected by the UFC… no wait, that was Couture himself who said that.

There’s always going to be someone else to blame, which is one of many things that Dana White has learned very well from Vince McMahon. If it’s not that gosh-darned media, it’s going to be the hardcore fans of the sport, or the fighters’ agents, or a “wacky” management team, or those “crazy to deal with” Japanese people, or even the fighters themselves, who are just like bitches in a beauty salon, you know. It’s always going to be someone else. Clearly, there is a shortage of mirrors in Las Vegas.

He said this to an internet reporter, right? I mean, does Yahoo! Sports publish a print version I’m not aware of? It just seems odd that he could say all this with a straight face and actually believe it himself.

What I’d love to know is whether Dana truly believes the things that he says? I mean, did he lose sleep last night and think to himself “Man, I really messed this up” or was he really thinking “Damn Internet and Hollywood agents!”

Sam, I have to think it was the latter. Only someone who really believes his own bullshit could stay so consistently on-message. If he were just acting the role of the Lex Luthor-like villain at the head of the table, he’d slip up every now and then.

The sad thing is, he really has done a lot for the sport and for the fighters. It would be a shame if his egotism gets in the way of people realizing that.

Dana is such a little whiny ass cry baby. I wish that the tito vs white fight would have happened…just so i could see dana get knocked the fuck out.

Dana is turning into the next vince mcmahon…before u know it he’ll be coming out before the fights with his family and talking shit to all the other fighters. Dana is a joke and I think he should be fired.

Damn, I was way off when I said it would be Dana blaming Sambo as the Dana White “negative thing to hate about him” – story of the week. I try to be alot more fair minded w/ White then most hardcore fans, but who is gonna defend “internet sites give false earnings” as a good excusing from Dana? How would that even hurt him? Wouldn’t he actually be paying people more then is listed (and those figures are almost always figures from State Athletic Commissions)? So if anything he’s saying Randy is dumb because he reads internet sites, which isn’t gonna win points with fans or Randy personally, or he’s saying those figures are wrong, I pay these guys way more then you after bonus, silly Randy!

It’s a disturbing Vince McMahon-like pattern of losing in a negative way those stars who, for better or worse, built your house. Frank Shamrock, Tito Ortiz, Josh Barnett, and several other figures join Randy in shaking their heads, even if they shoulder some of the blame. The common denominator is still Dana White.

Finally, the worst thing before this goofy tyrannic statement was that he couldn’t help himself in yesterdays press release. Very Telling. In the final lines he can not resist, as he sees the high road, and starts down it, but turns back and says “I” when referring to promotional contracted rights to Randy Couture. Should have never been mentioned. Randy has lawyers. He isn’t dumb. He knows. That’s mud throwing in public. It looks bad. And he said “I”!!! It should have read “the UFC”, and been followed by “will welcome a legend like Randy Couture back anytime he’d like to return in any capacity”. Even if you don’t feel that way, it’s what you should say.